health & safety – Page 87

November 5, 2007

review – The Beckoning Silence – Joe Simpson

The last movie I watched at the Banff Mountain Film Festival was a fitting finale: The Beckoning Silence.

Joe Simpson gives his perspective on the 1936 disaster on the North Face of the Eiger when four young climbers died in public view of Eiger Bird tourists below.

The last, Kurz, perished after hanging on the end of a rope all night with 2 dead partners. Died within metres of the rescue party next morning. A tragedy in every respect.

Simpson’s Touching the Void is my favourite documentary of all time â€” so I kept my expectations as … realistic as possible.

But The Beckoning Silence is no sequel to Touching the Void. Though it explores similar themes, and is a remarkably parallel story, this is a made-for-TV presentation, not a feature film release.

My review …

The Beckoning Silence is excellent. It’s a must see for anyone interested in the history of mountaineering.

Joe Simpson is the best possible narrator. Articulate, compelling, flawed. He is the highlight.

Joe cannot understand why he lived, and these young men died.

photo – Film and Mountain

I cannot find a trailer for the movie on-line. Leave a comment below with a link if you’ve seen one.

November 4, 2007

best film – Banff Mountain Film Festival 2007

by Rick McCharles

OK, this is MY best film out of those I’ve seen.

A World Premiere.

20 Seconds of Joy

Germany, 2007, 60 minutes
Directed by Jens Hoffmann

â€œI donâ€™t want to die, I want to live. Iâ€™m pretty good at running away, and this is my escape!â€ This is how Karina Hollekim describes her dedication to BASE jumping. Documentary filmmaker Jens Hoffman first met the now 30-year-old Norwegian in 2002. He immediately started to film, accompanying her through many stages of her BASE-jumping career, until it comes to a sudden stop, changing all aspects of her life.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Karina was mad for BASE jumping the first moment she saw it. This movie documents her addiction to extreme sport and the many costs of that addiction.

It explains why extreme athletes are driven step-by-step to more dangerous stunts. She was one of the first 3 women to fly the new wing suits allowing more daring manoeuvres.

In the film she makes one mistake. And walks away. Later she crashes through equipment failure â€” and miraculously survives.

BASE jumping to most of us is tiny YouTube video highlight clips. This movie is essential if you really want to understand the sport.

Over 110 BASE jumpers have been killed to date. Pro jumpers last an average of 6 years.

I don’t want to do it. But this film makes me much more understanding of those that do.

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on MySpace.

BASE jumping is a sport involving the use of a parachute to jump from fixed objects. “BASE” is an acronym that stands for the four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump:

* Building
* Antenna (an uninhabited tower such as an aerial mast)
* Span (a bridge or arch)
* Earth (a cliff or other natural formation)

Wikipedia

November 3, 2007

The Endless Knot – surviving the death of Alex Lowe

Half way through the Banff Film Festival 2007, by far the best I’ve seen is The Endless Knot.

No special effects. No “extreme” footage.

Just an emotional true story, simply told. I highly recommend you see it.

In October of 1999 best friends Alex Lowe and Conrad Anker were overcome by an avalanche in the Tibetan Himalaya. Conrad barely survived the avalanche and soon began to suffer form Survivor’s Guilt. In the months following the tragedy, Conrad and Alex’s widow, Jennifer tried to comfort each other and unexpectedly found love. Now their bond is tested as Alex’s three boys try to accept Conrad as a father.

Alex’s death was but one of many tragedies that unfold when families lose loved ones in the mountains. The celebrated high altitude Sherpa families suffer this same fate more than any other group as they work at extreme altitude for Western expeditions. In honor of Alex’s legacy Jennifer and Conrad seek meaning beyond tragedy with a mountaineering school for Sherpas and high altitude workers.

The Endless Knot – Serac Films

To see the trailer click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

November 2, 2007

happy birthday to me

Happily, hiking is one of life’s joys you can do your entire life, body willing.

My life to-trek list is still very long.

October 31, 2007

another reason not to live in California – earthquakes

As those left coast hikers are oft to remind us, “California is the center of the outdoor universe.”

But God will smite the Californicaters …

We nearly lost Tom Mangan of Two-Heel Drive on Monday.

From his personal blog, at work â€” The San Jose Mercury News:

… First words out of my mouth: “Looks like we’re going into Page One.” Not that anybody had to be told.

The quake rattled the newsroom long enough and hard enough to send our news-detection meters into the red. At first we had no idea how bad things were: we could’ve been just down the road from a minor earthquake, or a hundred miles from one that flattened a small city.

Fortunately, it was the former: a magnitude 5.6 quake on the Calaveras Fault, within a mile of where we used to live in the hills east of town. …

Busy being born: October 2007 Archives

Willow Glen resident Catherine Kilkenny gets under a table during an earthquake on October 30, 2007 in San Jose. Earthquake was a 5.6 magnitude, with the epicenter located 5 miles NNE of Alum Rock, 7 miles east of Milpitas. It was the strongest Bay Area earthquake since Loma Prieta in 1989. (Richard Koci-Hernandez / Mercury News)

source

October 27, 2007

trekking in Afghanistan?

I’d love to get to Afghanistan for hiking.

This article from the Time’s Online says it’s only for the very adventurous at this point:

Afghanistan is bursting with potential as a future tourist destination. Its mountains could rival Nepal as a trekking destination, while Silk Road cities like Herat with their brightly tiled mosques are the match of more celebrated rivals like Samarkand or Isfahan. The jewelled lakes of Band-e Amir are itching to have feet dipped in them. Nomads lead their camel caravans past the broken remains of tanks. The promise is there, and Afghans and travellers alike are just waiting for the right moment to finally return.

…

How to holiday in Afghanistan | Asia – Times Online

Of course the late, great Eric Newby went in dangerous times. One of my favourite hiking books:

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush – Amazon

October 15, 2007

Eco – Eco, Eco, Eco, Eco, Eco … EEK

Oct 15 is Blog Action Day. Bloggers are asked to post something to do with the environment…

GREEN is GOOD !!!

You see … I learned from TreeHugger.com that putting the word “Eco” in a blog post title brings in the readers. Don’t feel duped. Reading this post shows you care about the environment.

Remember, GREEN is GOOD.

screenshot

This blog produced with 100% recycled pixels.

Yes, the ecology is a good cause. Hikers are great advocates for wilderness.

But this is one blogger who has ECO-fatigue.

My latest tirade against branding with the word ECO are the EcoTaxis in Mexico. They drive around, empty, harassing tourists that conspicuously do not want a cab at the moment. A mobile oxymoron.

The real Ecotaxis are in Rome.

October 14, 2007

hiking Skyline Trail, Jasper in OCTOBER

So, the University of Alberta Outdoors Club in Edmonton decided to hike the Skyline Trail in Jasper National Park in the Fall.

That’s crazy, man!

This â€” our favourite hike in the Canadian Rockies â€” is difficult enough in August.

Did they survive?

Check the trip report by Ewen on his Outdoor Video Magazine site:

… When I awoke in the morning, I discovered the rain had turned to 4 inches of snow over night, and everything was frozen solid. A temperature somewhere between -5C and -10C coupled with the rain the night before meant people had to resort to licking tent poles to get them to collapse, and I had to spend nearly 10m de-icing the bear hanger before we could get our food down.

…

Outdoor Video Magazine Â» Hiking the Skyline Trail- Jasper National Park

We’ve linked to Ewen’s trip report from our Skyline Trail information page.

October 5, 2007

PCT late season hike – Freezer Bag Cooking

Sarah’s Freezer Bag Cookingâ„¢ | Outdoor Food Simplified site is #1 for hiking food in my opinion.

But Sarah’s a hard core hiker, as well.

Check these photos from her latest trip report:

My friend Steve and I set out to do the section hike of Chinook Pass to White Pass on the PCT here in Washington. We headed southbound on this section. It is roughly a shy 30 miles. …

We left Chinook Pass in a snowstorm, the only vehicle besides us up there was the snow plow.

Would you go out this late in the year?

Snow on the PCT – trip report and more photos

October 3, 2007

hike Half Dome, Yosemite

What are the best day hikes in the world? Certainly you must include:

Tongariro Crossing, New Zealand

Angel’s Landing, Zion

Half Dome, Yosemite

Rick Deutsch is the author of One Best Hike: Yosemite’s Half Dome, our recommended guidebook to one of the most exhilarating hikes anywhere. (See video)